As the novel coronavirus outbreak has been largely controlled in China, all walks of life are returning to normal. Ministry of Commerce officials said at a State Council Information Office media briefing on Wednesday that more than 90 percent of large-scale agricultural product wholesale markets, large supermarkets, chain stores, e-commerce platforms and the express delivery industry nationwide have restarted operations, providing necessary guarantees for life to return to normal.

The rate at which the retail industry is restarting operations is of great significance to not only ordinary people's lives, but also to the country's economy. Consumption, especially domestic consumption, plays a key role in driving China's economic growth.

This consumption capacity dipped as the novel coronavirus outbreak coincided with the most important Chinese holiday, the Spring Festival Golden Week, suspending production and national logistics channels and driving up commodity prices.

However, as the retail industry gradually restarts operations, the public's consumption capacity, restrained for a while, is finally normalizing. Restarting retail industry operations guarantees sufficient goods and services supply, conducive for meeting people's livelihood needs and stabilizing commodity prices.

As the epidemic situation eases, more enterprises will restart production and logistics channels nationwide will become smooth again, the factors driving up commodity prices will gradually disappear and the prices will dip, enabling the country's economy and people's daily lives to return to normal.